A Conversation with Michael Idriss on the 1793 Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic

Today, we bring you a conversation between Historic America’s Sonali Prillman and Micheal Idriss, who is currently the African American Interpretive Fellow at Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution. Micheal, with his wealth of knowledge on Philadelphia history, takes us back to the mass outbreak of a disease long before the days of COVID19: the Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793.

Emancipation in the Capital

On this day 159 years ago, more than three thousand Black individuals were freed in the United States capital. Washington, D.C. passed the DC Compensated Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862, freeing thousands of enslaved people in the capital and paving the way for nationwide emancipation.

Sonali PrillmanApril 16, 2021Emancipation Day, District of Columbia, DC History, Black history, Abolition, District of Columbia Emancipation Act, Emancipation ProclamationComment

An Interview with Ted Maust of the Elfreth’s Alley Museum

Today’s article is a conversation with Historic America’s very own Sonali Prillman and Ted Maust, the director of the Elfreth’s Alley Museum in Philadelphia. Join them as they discuss the earliest American fire departments, rowdy volunteer firefighter brawls, the oldest property insurance company in the country, what it is like to run such a unique museum, or about how one of the oldest residential streets in the United States has changed through the centuries.

Sonali PrillmanApril 6, 2021Elfreth’s Alley, Elfreth’s Alley Museum, Ted Maust, Philadelphia, Colonial America, Fire Safety, Fireman's Hall Museum, The Philadelphia Contributionship, Benjamin FrankilinComment

A Conversation with Jake Wynn of the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum

One of the most important women in American history was the Civil War humanitarian, Clara Barton. While Barton is well remembered today for being the founder of the American Red Cross, her career was as lengthy as it was impressive. To tell her story, we decided to speak with Jake Wynn, Director of Interpretation at the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum.

Sonali PrillmanMarch 10, 2021Clara Barton, Missing Soldiers Office, Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office, Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum, National Museum of Civil War Medicine, Jake Wynn, American Red Cross, Andersonville Prison, Civil War medicine, Civil War, American Civil War, Antietam National Battlefield, Battle of Antietam, US Patent OfficeComment

The Revolutionary War Heroine Sybil Ludington

This Women’s History Month we’re kicking off with the story of a Revolutionary War heroine whom you might not have heard of before. Sybil Ludington is known today as the “female Paul Revere” and while her actions were equally heroic, she was largely forgotten until just over a century after her own midnight ride took place.

Sonali PrillmanMarch 1, 2021Sybil Ludington, Women's history, Women's History Month, Revolutionary America, american revolution, Women of the american revolution, Danburry, Martha J. Lamb, Anna Hyatt Huntington, New York, New York historyComment

The Riot that Birthed a Movement

The 1908 Springfield Race Riot made Illinois the center of national attention and uproar as it was the final straw for many advocates for racial justice in the United States. Those acts of racial terror committed in August 1908 gave way for the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or NAACP — one of the oldest civil rights organizations in the U.S. In its over a hundred years of existence, the NAACP has tirelessly worked to make racial justice and equality a reality for all Americans.

Sonali PrillmanFebruary 8, 2021NAACP, Martin Luther King Jr, Black History, March on Washington, 1908 Springfield Race Riots, Grandfather clause, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida Wells-Barnett, Mary Church Terrell, Niagara Movement, 13th Amendment, 14th Amendment, 15th Amendment, Guinn v. United States, Brown v. Board of Education, Civil rights movementComment

President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address Aimed to Unite a Divided Nation

As we inaugurate a new president, let us look back at one of the most notable inaugural addresses delivered during the most divided time in our nation’s history.

Sonali PrillmanJanuary 20, 2021Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Inauguration, Inaugural Address, Sonali Prillman, Historic AmericaComment